England women’s Head Coach Danny Kerry has announced his squad for the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Amsterdam, which gets underway on 22 August.
Kerry has made just one change from the squad that competed at the Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy in Sydney last month with Leicester forward Hannah Macleod brought in, replacing her club teammate Gemma Darrington.
Younger players Nicola White, Laura Unsworth, Katie Long and Susie Gilbert have all been retained in the side that is tasked with a top four finish in the Netherlands, a position that would secure valuable automatic qualification for the 2010 BDO FIH World Cup in Argentina.
Despite welcoming a number of new faces to the group over the past year, there is still plenty of experience in the side with nine of the squad having played in the last EuroHockey Nations Championships in 2007. Beth Storry, Helen Richardson, Kate Walsh, Chloe Rogers, Alex Danson, Rebecca Herbert, Sally Walton, Hannah Macleod and Kerry Williams were all part of the side that won bronze in Manchester two years ago and in doing so, guaranteed Great Britain’s automatic qualification to the Beijing Olympic Games 12 months later.
For Coach Danny Kerry, the EuroHockey Nations Championships has always been the most important competition of the season: “Following a tough Champions Trophy the group has trained for and focussed hard on the primary tournament of this year, the EuroHockey Nations Championships. Our matches against Russia and Azerbaijan are critical and we are mindful of the fact we have very little experience of playing these nations. The Netherlands, playing at home, will be a great test for us and we look forward to playing in front of a large crowd against the World’s number one ranked team. We will all have to deliver to our highest standards to give us the best chance of early World Cup qualification.”
England get their European campaign underway on the opening day of the Championships when they face Russia in Pool A before meeting the hosts, reigning World and Olympic Champions the Netherlands the next day. The pool phase concludes on Tuesday 25 August with England taking on Azerbaijan knowing that a top two finish in the group will not only secure a place in the semi finals but a place at the World Cup in Rosario next August.
England squad: Beth Storry, Becky Duggan, Natalie Seymour, Chloe Strong, Laura Unsworth, Kate Walsh, Sally Walton, Ashleigh Ball, Susie Gilbert, Helen Richardson, Chloe Rogers, Kerry Williams, Alex Danson, Jo Ellis, Rebecca Herbert, Katie Long, Hannah Macleod, Nicola White.
Source: England Hockey
